Page 18 of The Senator's Secret
“You’re right,” I agree. “She’s terrible. Why don’t you pack my shoes instead?”
“Yippee!” He claps and jumps up and down while he cheers, effectively spilling the beans that this was his plan the entire time.
“But no trying them on,” I add, giving him my side-eye. “Your feet are wider than mine and you’ll stretch them out.”
“Boo! Hiss!” he shouts, sounding so much like one of my pouting felines in a snit. “You’re no fun at all.”
He’s right, and I can’t say no to him. He’s like the baby brother I never had, so I agree to that too. “Oh fine. Try them all on. Have a blast.”
“Yay!”
“Just pack what I need. I don’t want to be hauling all my stuff over there,” I say before I realize my mistake.
“You don’t want all of your stuff there?” he asks. Suddenly, all of Carter’s good mood is gone. He tips his head to the side as he studies me.
“I just mean, I need to take this all in baby steps,” I try to explain. I force myself to look scared out of my gourd, which is not hard, considering I freaking am scared out of my gourd, just not for the reasons Carter thinks I am. “It’s all happening so fast.”
“It is, honey,” he says to me and I watch the hardness of his handsome features melt into a tender expression. He’s so fiercely protective of all those he loves. He’s so beautiful inside and out it’s not hard to see why his husband snapped him up so fast. “How are you doing with everything?”
“Okay, I think.”
“No one would fault you if you didn’t move in with him…” he trails off, and we both know that’s not true. The press would eat Jake alive if I didn’t move in. And if I don’t scratch his back, he sure as hell won’t scratch mine.
“I think we both know that’s not true,” I reply. “He’s really not a bad man.” I can’t believe those words came out sounding almost normal. And if you buy that, Carter, I have some ocean-front property in Nevada for you…
He shoots me a you-must-have-taken-a-blow-to-the-head look. “He’s not a bad guy? We’ve been avoiding any dealings with him for the last two years.”
“I know that,” I snap. “Maybe I was fighting my feelings for him.”
Lord knows I was fighting something. It was my wayward lady bits who would happily hop in the sack for a night with Jake’s trouser snake, but his cock clearly leads him down dark paths and would only lead to the complete and total obliteration of my heart when he eventually pulverizes it by being caught with someone else in his bed—as he always does.
“I kind of always wondered.”
He did?
“You did?” I ask him, because I don’t even think I like Jacob, but love him? I don’t know about that. Clearly, I have entered some gap in the space-time continuum.
“Yeah,” Carter answers. “It’s in the way he looks at you. You can just tell his feelings run deeper than surface level and always have.”
Yeah, okay. I barely keep from rolling my eyes and saying those words out loud. They were bad enough in my head.
“Yeah,” I whisper.
“Well, let’s pack this bitch up!” Carter cheers playfully as he holds up a tape gun in his hand like he’s an old west gunslinger, making me laugh. He always brightens my mood. He’s one of those people who is just good to be around.
I fold a few more boxes to pack some of my favorite books, likeRebeccaby Daphne du Maurier andThe Complete Works of the Brownings. Things my mom always read to me. My grandmother’s original copy ofGone with the Wind. And I top the box with my favorite throw blanket I love to sit wrapped up in while I read.
“Maybe you should go pack a suitcase or two of clothes you’ll need over the next few days, and we’ll stash those with the cat stuff until we can get a moving truck here,” Carter suggests.
“That’s a good idea. I’ll go do that now,” I say before turning to leave the room. I stop in my tracks and turn back to him, wrapping my arms around him tight.
“What’s this for?”
“I just love you, okay?”
“Okay, honey,” he says softly before releasing me.
“I really would be lost without you,” I tell him before I turn to leave the living room again just as the doorbell rings. “Now who could that be?”